At last a break from the weather nasties! Despite a forecast of “breezy” conditions, the winds were surprisingly light most of day, making for some delightful steelheading with the fly rod. Joining Jay and me was the Heneveld group with Brent and Jeff in my boat. As has been the norm with the higher water, casting blind to known bedding areas proved the ticket with numerous hookups and fish landed. Egg, fry, and Stone patterns turned the trick today. As Steve noted in his post below, the water level rose significantly in the afternoon making line management and boat positioning tougher, but we enjoyed some cooperative steelhead through day’s end. Pictured are Brent with a buck that gave him a major run for his money. Landing an angry male of 10 lbs. plus from a wheelchair is no small feat, but Brent handled the rod and fish beautifully. For his part, Jeff holds a hen that played nice, enabling our netting her in relatively short order thanks, in part, to Jeff’s fish fighting skills.
Thanks, guys, for a wonderful time. Enjoyed it a bunch and looking forward to seeing you in the fall!
Captain Tom Kuieck